Justice
by tiger002
Summary: The price must be paid.


**A/N: **This is a story of truth, told through the medium of fiction. Details of this narrative don't matter, only the message.

Song lyrics are from Third Day's I See Love.

Thanks to WoundedHearts for betaing

* * *

'_Some see a prisoner  
Alone before his judge  
With no one to defend him'_

The innocent should not be punished.

The opposite is also true.

They say justice is blind.

That it delivers punishment to the guilty and defends the innocent.

That it doesn't care for rich or poor, for power or weakness.

Only for truth.

And that the crimes must be met with punishment.

That's why he's standing there.

A suit and tie, his outfit perfectly pressed, as if he was going on a job interview or a first date.

He takes heavy breaths, his brow is covered in sweat, and his eyes look to the ground, afraid of what he knows is coming.

"Cody Martin," the judge states, no emotion or care.

"Yes your honor."

"The jury has returned with their verdict."

I close my eyes as does he.

We know what it will be already.

Everyone does.

The evidence lined up perfectly, and with such a clear confession, it was an easy decision.

But they don't know the truth.

I look up as he faces his judgment, wondering for the millionth time 'why?'

"Guilty."

No surprise there.

"Cody Martin, you have been sentenced to an execution that will take place immediately. Does anyone have anything to say to this?"

Part of me wants to stand, to tell them the truth, to tell them that I was the one who should die.

Not my brother.

Not the one who has never even killed a fly.

Not the one who had everything going for him.

But I don't.

I just stand there, the coward I am.

His silence matching my own.

Is it right?

Is it wrong?

I can't say.

Or…

I don't want to.

Still, the crowd is never moved by silence. Their short sightedness seeing only with their eyes, hearing only with their ears.

They don't know with their hearts.

The guards take him away, tall burley men whose faces I dare not look at, fearing that if they see me, they'll know the truth. As they walk out of the courtroom, Cody looks at me, for the first time in so long.

You'd think I'd see hate there, disappointment, anything but what I see.

I see love.

He is a stronger man than me.

Before I can say any last words to him, they swiftly take him past us, into the city streets, the mobs all around.

The guards do nothing to stop their insults, the vilest of profanities spewed at the purest of men. They throw rocks, bruising him, droplets of blood covering the concrete roads. They spit at him, dirty his suit with their filth.

They see a heartless murderer, a man who deserves to die, who is the worst of sinners. A bastard who would steal innocence, ruin families, the antonym of righteousness.

They see me.

Their cheers ring louder with each step he takes closer to the destination. What a twisted world this is when one would celebrate death such as this. But they don't know. They can't see. Because if they did, well it would be me being shoved down the road, bloodied and beaten, facing my just punishment.

Cody stumbles, falling, his legs weak from the brutal march, but his escorts give him no mercy, merely pulling out a whip and slamming the leather into his back. He closes his eyes, tears spilling out on to the ground below. I can see him trying to curl up, stop the pain, but it does no good as a steel tipped boot is shoved into this side. Crimson covers the boot as it pulls away.

He gets back to his feet, yanked by the neck of one of the muscled men, and is shoved forward, stumbling, limping.

The sky above fills with storm clouds, a gentle rain beginning to fall. It's as if nature herself is weeping the coming death of such a perfect man.

As my heart beats like lightning, I see the guillotine rising above the horizon. Tears fill my eyes knowing what it will be used for.

An instrument of justice.

An atonement for crimes.

The very ones my hands have committed.

But I won't be the one to die this day.

"Off with his head!" the crowd screams in unison, and as I stand among them, taking in the sights, wanting to run but unable to look away. "Come on, cheer, this bastard is getting what he deserves," one of the thousands say to me.

I try ignoring him, keeping my eyes locked on my brother. The way the crowd sneers at him, uttering the vilest of threats.

He doesn't waste a word in responding.

He has truth on his side, at any moment his logic could destroy all of their accusations. A thousand alibis lie before him should he choose to bring them up. Even the most illogical would have to understand his innocence should he say but a few words.

But he doesn't.

His silence damning him.

"What's with you?" the same person as earlier asks, "Are you actually on his side?"

The truth is more than he can know, but I can't let them find out that I'm the one whom judgment should fall upon this day. So pushing the conscience I didn't think I had any more to the side, I raise my fist to the sky, shouting along with them, calling for the death of my savior.

It's just one more voice, one more call for what already has been decreed. And he can't know I'm among the shouts. Can he?

He's led up the platform, bloodied, nearly unrecognizable from the beating he took on the way here. The guards, heartless as ever shove his head into the small hole, lock him in. He doesn't struggle, though I'm sure someone as smart as him could figure a way out of this. But no, he just takes this punishment in silence.

His eyes glance out to the crowd, or so they would likely believe. But his eyes lock on me, and I lower my fist, knowing what I have done to my brother.

If it weren't for me, he'd be free. When we were younger, I promised I'd protect him, fight for him, but here I am, the one who killed him. Whose sins are carved into that blade.

It rises into the sky, the rain still washing over us, though, from beyond the clouds, a speck of sunlight breaks through making the blade of the guillotine gleam.

His breaths are far more even than mine. His broken body brings me to tears. And even as the moment draws closer, I can't help but see the smallest of smiles cross his face.

'_I see love' _

The guard waits as the blade hangs at the top, and the crowd of thousands falls silent in this moment. The calm before the storm, and even the clouds stop their downpour for this moment.

'_I see love'_

"Justice shall be served."

The clouds break allowing sunshine to decorate his body.

'_Light of heaven breaking through'_

There is no way to turn back time, no way to tell him I'm sorry for all I've done, to time to tell him that I love him. I can only stand in awe of a love that no one deserves.

'_I see grace'_

They say some might die for a righteous man, one's who life was lived as a leader, one who had a mission to change the world or even a part. But who am I to deserve such a pardon?

'_I see God's face.'_

The lever is pulled, and the blade rockets to the earth, slicing through air, and I close my eyes, not wanting to see Cody killed like this.

'_Shining pure and perfect love'_

I can't help but hear the crowds roar, signaling his death, but it is soon drowned out by a thousand strikes of thunder, deafening those in the streets of the city.

"It is finished!" the judge cries out from beside the guillotine. "Justice has been served," the cold heartless man bellows.

And while it is true that the crime was paid for, they don't know that the guilty walks free today.

The guilty should not walk free.

The reverse is also true.

But what kind of person would I be to not remember this moment, this chance I've been given?

Cody, I cannot understand the love you have for me, but I can only hope I can make you proud with this life you have bought.


End file.
